A Baby of Convenience

“Will be staying the way it is,” Harry said triumphantly. “No one can do anything now that George has been proven to be alive and well. He will retain control of Hargrove Brothers and Company.”

Neal hung up and sank to his knees. He found himself crying for the second time in a few short months, but this time, his tears felt wonderful. They felt like a second chance. Elena lowered herself to the ground in front of him.

“He’s alive?” she said softly.

Neal nodded. “My brother is alive.”

Elena gave him a brilliant smile. “I can’t wait to meet him.”

Epilogue

Elena cleared the plates as George and Neal discussed what they liked to call George’s ‘Moroccan adventure’. Now that some distance had been put between the suffering and the recovery, both brothers were willing to talk for long stretches of time about their last few months.

George had been amazed by Neal’s plan to retain control of the company and he had been exceptionally impressed that he had managed to convince Elena to go along with it.

Elena liked listening to them. They had such an easy flow of conversation. She watched

them carefully, always observing, hoping she could mimic that easy conversation with her own sister, at least one day. She had taken active steps towards re-building that relationship, but she was happy to find that she did not feel out of place or unwanted when Neal and George got together. She fit perfectly.

She had never really experienced that feeling before. She had always been the outsider. This new sense of inclusion was enough to make her feel giddy at times, but that was most probably just the pregnancy. Elena’s stomach had ballooned suddenly in the last month. She patted her stomach, thinking about her doctor’s appointment that morning.

“Penny for your thoughts?” George asked, interrupting her musings.

She smiled. “I visited the doctor this morning.”

Neal looked up with a start. “You didn’t have an appointment scheduled for today.”

“I know,” Elena replied. “I was feeling a little strange… so I paid Dr. Lanter a visit.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Neal demanded.

“It wasn’t a big deal,” Elena said, touching his cheek, “but I do have some news.”

“You’re having twins?” George said with a wink.

Elena knew he was joking. She winked back and nodded once.

George’s smile was replaced with shock. The brothers exchanged looks of amazement.

“Are you serious?” Neal asked.

Elena laughed. “We’re having twin boys.”

Neal just looked at her and shook his head. ‘This is unbelievable.’

Elena nodded happily.

***

After Elena had gone to bed, Neal sat up with George in the living room.

“George,” he began seriously, “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Raising your stipend now that you’ve got two extra mouths to feed?” George asked with a wink.

“Actually,” Neal said, “I wanted to talk to you about a job.”

George raised his eyebrows, “Where?”